With physician shortages confronting Arizona and other states, Maricopa Medical Center/Maricopa Integrated Health System, the Valley’s leading teaching facility for physicians, is a key player in addressing those shortages.

Under the direction of Dr. Michael Grossman, director of academic affairs, the center trains up to 300 physician residents annually. In fact, many hundreds of physicians trained under Grossman’s direction are practicing throughout the United States. With more than 37 years of teaching medical education, Grossman uses that experience to oversee the center’s nine physician residency programs in emergency medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, podiatric medicine & surgery, psychiatry, child psychiatry, radiology and surgery.

Through his guidance, Maricopa Medical Center is ensuring that Arizona will have exceptionally well-trained physicians today and into the future. Grossman has dedicated much of his medical career to training physicians, with a goal of enhancing culturally sensitive patient care, as well as helping new physicians create a patient/physician partnership. In his role as a physician-teacher, Grossman collaborates with several other hospitals across the Valley to assist in evaluating their re-accreditation processes for their resident training programs. In addition, he is a co-investigator of the Arizona Physician Workforce study looking at physician shortages throughout Arizona.

A 14-week curriculum at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH) is helping bridge the gap between school and bedside nursing for new graduate registered nurses.

Cigna Medical Group’s Chronic Health Improvement Program (CHIP) is designed to care for patients with several chronic conditions. Often, patients with multiple chronic conditions are forced to manage through a confusing medical system that includes several specialists, limited time with medical providers, a variety of medications, and complex treatment plans that overlap or are at odds with each other.

The CHIP team offers a holistic approach to the complex problems faced by patients with chronic health conditions. CHIP, which is overseen by Dr. Robert Flores, director of population health management, manages care across more than 200 physicians, specialists, nurses and medical professionals at Cigna Medical Group. It is believed to be the only program of its kind in the state that is wholly owned and operated, and directly links all care coordinators and medical providers through an electronic health record system with 24/7 access to data.

A 14-week curriculum at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH) is helping bridge the gap between school and bedside nursing for new graduate registered nurses. The Graduate Advancement Program in Pediatrics (GAPP), involves classes on pediatric nursing topics, a mentor program and a component in which new graduate registered nurses are paired with experienced PCH nurses for 396 hours of guided clinical experience.

“GAPP encourages new graduate nurses to form bonds with colleagues from around the hospital, share experiences, and support one another,” says Deborah Wesley, PCH’s chief nursing executive and vice president of clinical services. “Our goal at Phoenix Children’s Hospital is to provide consistency and support as nurses make a transition into the role of a pediatric staff nurse.

For nursing graduates, we provide four distinct career tracks: emergency department, general pediatrics, newborn intensive care unit and the pediatric intensive care unit.”